The ruling Democratic Party (DP) on Monday unilaterally adopted a parliamentary confirmation report on the top prosecutor nominee despite protest from opposition lawmakers. The parliamentary Legislation and Judiciary Committee, where DP lawmakers command a majority, adopted the report on the result of the confirmation hearing on Prosecutor General nominee Kim Oh-soo, held last Wednesday. The committee session was, however, boycotted by lawmakers of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP)

President Moon Jae-in's job approval rating rebounded to nearly 40 percent for the first time in nearly three months thanks to positive reception toward his recent summit deal with US President Joe Biden, according to a new poll released Monday. In the survey conducted by Realmeter on 2,512 people over the age of 18 from May 24-28, Moon's job approval rating was recorded at 39.3 percent, up 4.4 percentage points from the previous week. The result marked Moon's highest performance in public pol

A major global summit on climate and sustainable growth is scheduled to open on Sunday under the initiative of South Korea. President Moon Jae-in will host the two-day 2021 P4G Seoul Summit via video links, joined by more than 60 other top government officials and heads of international organizations, according to his office. They include British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, as well as Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and John Ke

The government and the ruling Democratic Party (DP) on Friday agreed on the need to restart dialogue with North Korea to restore inter-Korean relations as early as possible based on last week's Seoul-Washington summit deal that reaffirmed the allies' peace commitment toward the Korean Peninsula. "We have agreed that Seoul should facilitate conversations and exchanges with Pyongyang to ease the strained inter-Korean relations," DP spokesperson Rep. Koh Yong-jin said after a policy cons

President Moon Jae-in has named Park Soo-hyun, a former lawmaker, as new senior secretary for public communication, Cheong Wa Dae said Friday. Park succeeds Chung Man-ho, who has been in the post for less than 10 months. Park worked as Moon's first Cheong Wa Dae spokesman starting in May 2017 after serving as lawmaker of the ruling Democratic Party for four years from 2012. He left Cheong Wa Dae in 2018 in a failed bid to become governor of South Chungcheong Province. He was defeated in last ye

Lee Jun-seok, a 36-year-old politician with no experience as a lawmaker, swept to victory Friday in the primary for the upcoming election to pick the new chairman of the main opposition party. Lee was among the final five candidates selected through opinion polls to compete in the People Power Party's (PPP) chairman election on June 11, according to the party's election management committee. The former member of the party's supreme council was followed by former four-term lawmaker Na Kyung-won

Vice Justice Minister Lee Yong-gu offered to resign Friday, after he was embroiled in a controversy over unpunished assault against a taxi driver. The justice ministry announced the news, without detailing reasons for his abrupt resignation. In a short statement sent to reporters, Lee said he was resigning because he believed the ministry "badly" needed a "new worker" who could help the ministry to reinvent itself for the remaining one year of the Moon Jae-in government.

The ruling Democratic Party (DP) and the government on Friday decided to abolish a controversial housing supply program for public sector employees relocating to the central administrative city of Sejong, calling it an "excessive privilege." The decision was reached in a policy consultation meeting between the DP, the government and Cheong Wa Dae held at the National Assembly. The special benefit program has recently been under intense scrutiny after it was revealed that an affiliate

Experts say lifting cap US put on Korea’s missile program could bolster its space power

President Moon Jae-in said Thursday that South Korea needs to maintain expansionary fiscal policy for the time being despite a hike in national debts attributable to the response to COVID-19. He emphasized that the role of state budget spending is important amid the crisis, speaking at the outset of an annual meeting on fiscal strategy. It was convened to review fiscal policy, set the direction of next year’s budget plans and discuss midterm fiscal strategy for the period of 2021-25. He

President Moon Jae-in formally asked lawmakers Thursday to send a report on the results of their confirmation hearing on his pick to become prosecutor general. Moon requested that the National Assembly forward the report by next Monday under a related law, according to Cheong Wa Dae spokesperson Park Kyung-mee. He earlier nominated Kim Oh-soo, former vice justice minister, to lead the state prosecution service, a position that has been vacant since the sudden resignation of Yoon Seok-youl in

Former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl is leading the race among prospective presidential hopefuls, while runner-up Gyeonggi Province Gov. Lee Jae-myung has managed to narrow the gap in approval with Yoon, according to a new poll released Thursday. According to the survey conducted on 2,004 voters nationwide from Monday-Tuesday by Realmeter, Yoon was the most favored candidate for the upcoming 2022 presidential election, receiving 30.5 percent of support. Lee came second, chalking up 25.3 per

The acting chief of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) resumed his public activities Thursday after testing negative for COVID-19. Rep. Kim Gi-hyeon, PPP floor leader who is currently acting as the chairman, had temporarily canceled his schedule for the day, including a meeting of the interim party leadership in the morning, following a coronavirus infection case inside the party. According to the party, Kim attended the same party meetings Monday and Tuesday as a party official wh

Park says women receiving military training will not cause gender conflict but rather solve it

President Moon Jae-in will convene a meeting with top government and ruling party officials Thursday on next year's budget and midterm fiscal policy, according to his office. The 2021 National Fiscal Strategy Meeting comes as South Korea is taking expansionary fiscal policy measures in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Other participants include Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum, Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki and Song Young-gil, head of the ruling Democratic Party. They plan to discuss a 2021 state